Highlights

Jack Ruby“Hit and Run”

Ready for some new punk of yesteryear? This is old-school, no wave, truly legit stuff. Apparently Jack Ruby hid their musical testimony pretty deep, because only now have their first recordings been exhumed from some vault, lost since the band’s run (1974-77) nearly 40 years ago. They hail from good ol’ pre-Giuliani NYC, no less. Sounding like a more punk-infused Lou Reed, vocalist Robin Hall leads us in with some appropriately vague musings on quick violence and general indifference before the rest of the band walks us off with squeals and discord. The mix is swell, too, the bass pulling things along and the guitar crackling static throughout with pretty much no resolution. The whole long lost album is on sale now from ugEXPLODE records.

“Hit and Run”

Ready for some new punk of yesteryear? This is old-school, no wave, truly legit stuff. Apparently Jack Ruby hid their musical testimony pretty deep, because only now have their first recordings been exhumed from some vault, lost since the band’s run (1974-77) nearly 40 years ago. They hail from good ol’ pre-Giuliani NYC, no less. Sounding like a more punk-infused Lou Reed, vocalist Robin Hall leads us in with some appropriately vague musings on quick violence and general indifference before the rest of the band walks us off with squeals and discord. The mix is swell, too, the bass pulling things along and the guitar crackling static throughout with pretty much no resolution. The whole long lost album is on sale now from ugEXPLODE records.

Neutone [CD-R preview]

Focus in on this tunnel as a vortex to the universe. Signaling swoops throughout your body expand at three times infinite, shocking unseen existence with less intensity and more static. You enter a void of colors that’ve never been imagined, reflecting off light beams streaking through dark matter and holes. Where speed means nothing to travel and travel exists only in the mind. Into the Neutone null, beyond thought — only where life thrives to begin. An area too striking for life, for pioneering. Of gas within light and dark, breaking pockets into windows of clouds lifting motion to other galaxies left so far beyond this point. And the wave of expansion continues to rip across, creating existence and leaving behind nothing really important. But all you’tts want is a tube of SPF 1-milli, a little purp-drank, couple space bitches, surf wax for that galactic rip tide, and the new Neutone CD-R in your portable. Hit up Ginjoha for more deetz.

“Girls Gone Wild”

Although Captain Ahab minces no words in the joyful, shameless dance lunacy that is “Girls Gone Wild” (a sample lyric: “I wanna show my tits on television”), the track’s video, by Patrick Kennelly, is a textbook case of mincing and blending, going savage with visual cues and our music video expectations. Girls Gone Wild, the infomercial and product from whence this track’s inspiration came, has significantly (sadly? triumphantly?) become a widely recognized cultural staple over the past decade. What does that say about us and our society? Captain Ahab says it means we wanna dance! Look out for social memes represented, such as the iconic arrows of Dance Dance Revolution, which harnessed the freedom of bodily movement and mutated it into a mindless series of stomps; the warning played before movie trailers, which lets us know that nudity and blood have been processed and compressed into the approvable label of “R”; and then, plainly, Mardi Gras beads. And yeah, there are some boobs.

But beware the mid-track bridge, which undermines simple pop sensibility with hints of sugarcoated violence and maudlin tragedy. The result: a PCP-fueled rampage? A mind so wrecked it’s left with little more than static-distorted images of pornography and exploitation? Yes, please! Ahab has found our culture’s great white whale, to be hunted rabidly out into the dark black void of the sea… the Girls of the lost and glorious Wild…

Stitched In Fire (album preview)

This one’s just as much about the medium as the music. I’ll let False Records sell themselves: “Limited pro dubbed and imprinted chrome cassettes in deluxe hand stamped cotton lined kraft jewelry boxes with vellum belly bands and inserts. Includes download code coupon.”

False has three cassettes available now, and the one we’re playing here is a tape of 13 aural visions based on Aaron Martin’s 2010 album Worried About The Fire. Although featuring only spliced samplings from the album, the streamed track is 15 minutes of some surprisingly varied and well-executed sounds. There’s a good mix of mechanical buzzing with classic analogue effects, plus even a melody or two. It’s vast and deals with oblivescence without delving towards the darkness into which so much similar music seems to slip. Be sure to check out 9:16, so you can actually hear the words. Of course, you’ll have to get the tape to hear the complete album, but is that such a huge sacrifice? Hand stamped cotton lined kraft jewelry box! Belly bands!!

Check False’s site to see who’s responsible for the interpretation of each track.